Massage devices are designed to imitate the masseur's hands in manipulating the tissue of the subject undergoing the massage. Massages improve local circulation, muscle tone and relieve physical muscular tension, and therefore, are relaxing. Massaging also has been used in the past in attempting to remove deformities caused by cellulites. Cellulites are lumpy fat deposits that make a person's body look older. When the fat is deposited immediately below the dermis, the connective tissue elasticity is reduced. This reduction in connective tissue elasticity causes depressions at connective tissue anchor points. The result is a mottled, dimpled and lumpy appearance of the skin. Cellulites tend to gather, especially around the hips of females and the waists of males.
Masseurs more and more have turned to mechanical massage devices to aid them in the manipulating the folds of skin and subcutaneous tissue in attempts to break down the fat causing the cellulite condition. In the past, the mechanical massage devices have been designed to manipulate the skin and the adipose tissue by drawing the skin and fat deposits away from the underlying tissue into the mechanical massage device using vacuum chambers. The manipulations, in theory, move and rearrange the cells of the dermis and the underlying layers of fat. The idea is to reduce the amount of subcutaneous fat stores. In the past, the mechanical massage devices have reduced the fat deposits and improved the texture of the cellulose-afflicted skin, but only after a great many treatments.
Accordingly, a preferred embodiment of the invention provides a mechanical massage device that significantly reduces the number of treatments necessary to successfully combat cellulites. Exemplary embodiments successfully eliminate or significantly reduce the cellulite effects, in some cases with only a single treatment.